Each week, we’ll ask our stable of scribes to weigh in on the three most important NBA topics of the day — and then give you a chance to step on the scale, too, in the comments below.

One bonus blogtable question (non-trade department): Not even a month ago, all y’all said that the Knicks would make the playoffs. Still convinced?

[Editor’s note: This question was asked and answered before Mike D’Antoni resigned as coach on Wednesday afternoon.]

Steve Aschburner: No. My hedge has more to do with the competition near the bottom of the Eastern Conference bracket than it does with the mixed-up Knicks, who might have had enough talent to qualify in spite of their drama, poor chemistry, inattention to defense and ill-fitting parts.

But Milwaukee made a move, with the Bogut trade, that could help immediately, assuming Monta Ellis gets worked into the Bucks’ schemes quickly. With forward-center Ekpe Udoh, that trade is all addition, no subtraction for Milwaukee, which was getting nothing from Bogut and Stephen Jackson. And heck, Cleveland might prove to be a little engine-that-can, in its low-profile, overlooked, Kyrie Irving way. New York’s record should have been flipped by now – 24-18, not 18-24 – and those six games in the standings will prove costly.

Fran Blinebury: To quote Gov. Rick Perry from here in Texas: “Oops!”

Scott Howard-Cooper: Yes. Still convinced they’re not as bad as Cleveland and Milwaukee. The talent level is good enough to put together something along the lines of four wins in seven games. That’s good enough to take control of No. 8 in the East.

Shaun Powell: The Knicks will make it. The schedule will lighten up, and Carmelo Anthony will figure it out, at least enough to get the seventh or eight seed. I will say this: Being unable to fend off the Bucks for a playoff spot is an occupational hazard, Mike D’Antoni.

John Schuhmann: I wondered why that was even a question back then. Nice job bringing it back up and making yourself look smart, Captain Blogtable. I’m not counting them out, but it’s clear that dysfunction has trumped talent over the last couple of weeks. The Bucks have upgraded their roster and also have an easier remaining schedule (14 home games, nine opponents over .500) than the Knicks (12 home games, 13 opponents over .500) , so I will change my mind and say that the Knicks will not make the playoffs. You win, cap’n.

Sekou Smith: Nope. During the height of Linsanity I believed that this team had a shot. The reality is the pieces just don’t fit. They didn’t before Jeremy Lin stormed into the picture and they don’t now that Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire and Lin are all trying to figure out how to coexist in Mike D’Antoni’s system. As much as I hate to admit it, this chemistry experiment just doesn’t work.

53 Comments

Oh really? Lin made 16 of his 18 points in the 4th quarter. And certainly it’s not Holiday’s defense why he missed a lot of shots, he had a lot of opened shots in the early part of the game. It’s just that they were not falling. If it was Holiday’s defense, why did the Sixers put a different defender on him when it mattered the most? And what TO’s are you talking about? He has only committed three last night. They won the game on the road against a very good defensive team so stop talking rubbish.

I’m rooting for the Knicks to make it to the 8th playoff spot. I’m not confident for them to make it because they are too new of a team. Although they have all the right pieces to be a championship team, there has always been a lot of changes for them this season. They’ve had less then 10 games with all the players and coach being the same. There is a learning curve they are still currently in, which comes at a time too close to the playoffs. Woodson bringing defense to the table make the Knicks a more lethal team to beat but now they have a “new” system to follow. The Bucks are also playing stellar basketball, having won their last 6 games. Having also added Monta Ellis, they have become even a harder team to beat now. And like John Schuhmann mentioned, they are at an advantage in terms of the opponents that they are facing. The Knicks need to learn the game together and also get accustom to it and they have to do it right now.

i think melo still needs to change his style of playing. Let lin drive the ball and be the distributor, and melo be the pure shooter. look at the game against the sixers, 5-15, of him. just do more pick and roll and let lin split the defence and create opportunities! Luckily we got Amare and Tyson who dominated the paint!

Disagree. Lin is not a great facilitator….just think about yesterdays game…Holiday gave him so much trouble early on, Melo had to bring the ball up court. Lin will get there, hes just not there. Melo needs to do what he did in denver, get into the paint and draw fouls. Take shots, draw fouls. That was his game, thats how he was so successful. Lin definitely needs to be better at handling the ball. hes way too sloppy and way too often and those TO’s are definitely costing them. Amare is getting back into the game, so the front court is strong right now. The back court needs work and its gotta start with Lin handling the ball more carefully. Lin also has a lot of trouble splitting defense, he looks for openings to push, run and lay up (like he did last night 4th quarter).

Are you kidding me?! We’re not talking about winning a championship, we’re just talking about playoffs. Of course they’re going to make it. Its the East Coast I mean some teams have improved alot but think of how the teams were before so they were bad to decent

The high price, paid when Dolan reportedly overruled Walsh, put enormous pressure on D’Antoni and Anthony to make it work, and they never really could. Anthony was shooting a career-low 40 percent and at times his frustration was evident. It was after Monday’s loss in Chicago.

Woodson, who favors the isolation offense that Anthony has thrived in, said there would be some changes, but didn’t elaborate. Dolan expects them to pay off.

“The season is not over and this team can still be the team that our fans hope it can be,” he said.

The problem with Lin is he want to take more shot over Melo and Stat. Let say He won 7 straight without those 2 guys. but Melo and Stat are making playoff ever since plus Lin making lots of TO unforced TO’s with the new coach Melo and Stat are back on the game think new coach gonna start his Vet. BD and let Lin shine with the 2nd team

The Knicks have a great roster probably one of the best in the east, they just dont have a coach that could make them work together. Yes we have alot of scorers but each one of them are willing to change to win. Now that coach dantoni resign we will see if another system will work.

Yes, NYK will make it to the playoff s. This is just the begining of change for them !.. Coach M.D A. just left.
Linsanity tapering off! .. But a lot of change along the way. – Adjustments and new players / player roles will be the next chapter of NYK, with all the attn due to jeremy Lin, Anthony, D antoni, etc. – pressure has come to the organization to win and improve. i believe that they will succeed in that!. they will make the playoffs at last seed minimum.

poor Jeremy Lin! look what kind of team you are in right now!!! maybe u can be better somewhere else. there is no team spirit after that carmelo comes back!!! look how you guys play before, how energtic you guys were before he came back! Even the crowd can feel you guys chemstry and now, it’s all going down. and I stop watch the game right now.

Best trade is the bogut deal! stephen curry should play his game with bogut, lee, wright, sjackson. If these guys are healthy watch out other teams because this kind of team of players knows what their exact roles are on and off the court. Warriors are proven in giving upsets. This is the time for them to make it as far as they can! Go Stephen Curry!

Melo is the culprit in this team, maybe the best time, is for him to be with a centerpiece like d12. amare already spots up most of the time, due to heavy physicality of the games around the league. Melo’s game would fit d12 inside game and keeping it in pace with ny lin and amare’s plays would give them a better chance of being a contender. Baron davis should be an off the bench player to best fit in their system. As a sixthman would best fit for him to explode in a game. The big games for bd is over and that can keep him healthy at pace with linsanity. or maybe bd should be as a starter for magic would do.

knicks will make the playoffs because they are a good team and also with the fact that mike dan’toni left is much more better for the knick because they needed to work on their defence and now an amazing oportunitty for the knicks to get better on defense and improve their game and they are also much better teams then the bucks and the cars also

Brandon Jenning for trade. Milwaukee just traded their big man for a guard that is an improvement over jennings. So they are going to bundle up Jennings with someone else to go after a big man. Gasol or Josh Smith. Jennings and Gooden might be enough to bring Pau Gasol to Milwaukee. Then, they’d have Gasau and Monte Ellis combination. It might be enough in the weak east to get to the playoffs this season and allow for room to grow for seasons to come.

man ever since melo came back the nicks start goin down hill. the knicks was DOING way better without melo who just crushed the chemistry right of the bat. knicks hopes of playoffs are probally goin. with out melo maybe the knicks going aint just a dream.

WOW , I cant wait for ” HOWARD ” to join the ” BROOKLYN NETS ” I know , I will be able to watch a real playoff game in NEW YORK for a change . KNICKS put it together now or tickets will sell in brooklyn fast !!!!

why not put melo on the bench and see how things work out? Mike Dantoni is just a useless coach in making this kind of decision, i guess he will get fired for not being able to bringing the team going into the playoffs. from a heart broken Knicks fan

trade Melo or Amare what are you all nuts. these guys will do what it takes you have to give them time to adjust, there were so many injuries the knicks are yet to have a full roster, the coach cant get his rotation down if the players are not all healthy, NY never want to wait but they will now because the Knicks have given these guys alot of money and they are untradeable at this point. it will get great but NY will have to wait a little

Since when do you have 2 superstars with 7plus year experience, and you run the offense threw a rookie that can’t go left. Average 7 turnovers(alot of them unforced). And every other team has figured him out. Linn is gonna be good, but he’s not ready yet. tony Parker and DRose torched him. He’s not ready yet. Let him come off the bench. He’s taking as much shots as your Superstar, and more shots than Stat. Is this how you run a NBA team? The other day he said, “The second unit brought us back in the game, so I didn’t think {IT WAS FARE} TO BRING MY SUPERSTARS BACK IN THE GAME”. And I’m like “WHAT”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He’s trying to make people feal good instead of WIN GAMES? He is the worst coach ever……..

Shaun Powell, as it may be an occupational hazard to loose a playoff spot to any low level team. I dont think you are giving the bucks enough credit. The bucks are doing ok, with this trade may have themselves lock on a playoff spot depending on the way traded player mesh in their system. In my opinion, the knicks have great players, I’m glad people notice you cant just put good players in a team and expect to win. Look at the Miami Heat for example. The knicks will be ok and make it to the playoff those players are doing as much just to get by. They’ll notice their slump or let just say the media will engrave what its expected of them and they will figure it out. lets just keep watching, its kind of exciting.

If you need to be reminded to play defense, you will NOT play defense. The best defense I’ve ever played in my life came when I DECIDED that THIS GUY that I’m guarding is NOT DOING ANYTHING, he is NOT scoring, he is NOT grabbing a rebound, he will be miserable, and WE ARE GOING TO BEAT HIM AND HIS TEAM. You can’t convince people to play defense. It’s not very different than trying to convince someone to… WIN. Both defense and winning come from… again: the HEART.

The knicks SHOULD make the playoffs this year with all the talent they have on their team..if they can fix their chemistry and play a little defense from time to time they are a tough team to beat..however, if melo and dantoni don’t work something out, its going to be a disappointing end to the season for knicks fans..here is my take on it: Mindofmattman.blogspot.com

It’s not a stretch for the Knicks to make the playoffs but a few things need to happen . One Mike D’antoni needs to change his stance on defense he need to practice remind and encourage Defense these guys show have it written on walls car doors lockers cellphones wherever players can be reminded of this unknown origin this would help next crash the boards! Rebound Box out,Put a body on someone not wearing the same uniform ! Watch the bouncing ball and grab it with your hands this is another item that need to be told to girlfriends,wives and children everyone of the knick players need to be reminded.If this is too much then fire Mike D’antoni and hire Mike woodson for the remainder and that shake up will push a playoff run

The reason I started following the Knicks a few weeks ago, was a group of guys, playing together, putting all they have into those 48 minutes, night in and night out. They beat the Lakers, they beat Minnesota with K. Love and Rubio, they beat Dallas, and they played HARD. They grinded it out. Night in night out. It was not about any single person. It was about the Knicks winning games. Today it is all about persons. And those persons do NOT give it ALL they’ve got on the court, for the sake of the TEAM and of WINNING. Will they make the playoffs? Only if they let hungry-hearted players run the show. Namely: Jeremy (yes, yes, he comes first, because, my friends, he is a winner. No one seems to pay enough attention to that), Tyson (irreplaceable heart and wise leadership), Jared (HUGE heart, amazing team player, hungry to win), Iman (have you seen him explode on dunks after steals? The (stupid) technical when he dunked on KG? THAT’s hunger. He will give it all he’s got), and Steve and Landry (both ego-less, and will do their job as best as they can). That’s the core that will win games. Because these are the winners the Knicks have. It’s not about “superstars”. It is about HEART.

Like my main man Steve Aschburner says, if the Knicks make that move to push carmelo into the second unit, becoming the 6th man. Knicks will make it to the playoffs. But then again, completely impossible.